Our Bishops

MAR MATHEW MOOLAKKATT, O. S. B.

MAR MATHEW MOOLAKKATT

Metropolitan Archbishop of Kottayam Archdiocese

MAR JOSEPH PANDARASSERIL

Auxiliary Bishop of Kottayam Archdiocese

GHEEVARGHESE MAR APHREM

Auxiliary Bishop of Kottayam Archdiocese

MAR JOSE KALLUVELIL

Bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Mississauga

Bishops from Archeparchy

MAR KURIAN MATHEW VAYALUNKAL

The Apostolic Nuncio to Tunisia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Titular Archbishop of Ratiaria

MAR GEORGE PALLIPARAMBIL, S.D.B.

Bishop of Miao

MAR JAMES THOPPIL

Bishop of Kohima

Expired Bishops

CHARLES LAVIGNE (1840 – 1913)

Charles Lavigne S.J., was born on 6.11.1840 at Sarlette in France. He was ordained for the titular see of Milevia and was appointed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kottayam in 1887. He was transferred to the Diocese of Trincomalee in the year1896 and he died on July 11, 1913 in France.

MAR MATHEW MAKIL(1851-1914)

Mar Mathew Makil was born on 10.4.1851 at Manjoor in Kottayam Distrit. He was appointed Vicar General for the Southists in the Vicariate of Kottayam in 1889. When the Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam and Trichur were re-organized into Trichur, Ernakulam and Changanassery in 1896, he was nominated Titular Bishop of Trallus and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Changanassery. In 1911, a new Vicariate Apastolic of Kottayam was constituted exclusively for the Knanaya Catholics and Mar Mathew Makil was transferred to Kottayam as Vicar Apostolic. He died at Kottayam on 26-1-1914.

MAR ALEXANDER CHULAPARAMBIL(1877-1951)

Mar Alexander Chulaparambil was born on 14-10-1877 at Kumarakom in Kottayam District. He was ordained priest on December 22, 1906. He was nominated titular bishop of Bussaries and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Kottayam on the 16th of July, 1914 by His Holiness Pope St Pius X. When the Syro Malabar hierarchy was constituted on December 21, 1923 he became the Bishop of Kottayam. He died on January 8, 1951.

MAR THOMAS THARAYIL (1899-1975)

Mar Thomas Tharayil was born on May 5, 1899 at Palathuruth in Kottayam District and was ordained priest on the 18th of December 1926. He was nominated Bishop of Azota and appointed Co-Adjutor Bishop of Kottayam on June 9, 1945 by His Holiness Pope Pius XII. At the demise of Mar Alexander Chulaparambil he became the Bishop of Kottayam on the 8th of January, 1951. He was an educationist. During his episcopacy two colleges – B.C.M. Kottayam, St. Stephens Uzhavoor – were established. He retired from the office on May 5, 1974 and died on July 26,1975.

MAR KURIAKOSE KUNNACHERRY (1928-2017)

Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry was born on the 11th of September,1928 at Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam District. He was ordained priest on the 21st of December,1955 in Rome. He was nominated bishop of Kepha and appointed Co-Adjutor Bishop of Kottayam on 9th December 1967. By the decree “God our loving father” dated May 9, 2005, the Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil appointed Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the first metropolitan of the newly erected metropolitan see of Kottayam. On June 3, 2005 Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil ordained and enthroned Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the Metropolitan of Kottayam at a liturgical service in Christ the King Cathedral, Kottayam.The Syro Malabar Synod has accepted his resignation on January 14, 2006.He died on june 2017.

MAR ABRAHAM VIRUTHAKULANGARA (1943-2018)

MAR Abraham Viruthakulangara was born on 5 June 1943 in Kerala, India. He completed his Major studies from St. Charles’ Seminary Nagpur. He completed B.A in Hindi from Sagar University, Madhya Pradesh. He also held Baccalaureate in Theology.
Abraham was ordained a Catholic priest on 28 October 1969. Abraham was appointed Bishop of Khandwa on 4 March 1977 and was ordained a bishop on 13 July 1977. He was appointed Archbishop of Nagpur, India on 17 January 1998.On 19 April 2018 he died from a cardiac arrest after attending a bishop’s conference in New Delhi.

MAR THOMAS THENNATT (1953-2018)

MAR Thomas Thennatt was born on 26 November, 1953, at Koodallor in the Archdiocese of Kottayam in Kerala. After matriculation in 1969, he joined the Pallotine minor seminary in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was ordained as a priest in 1978 by Bishop Joseph Fernandez of Quilon. He was appointed Bishop on 18 October, 2016, when he was the parish priest of St Pius X Church in Nagpur archdiocese. He was ordained Bishop of Gwalior on 8 January 2017. On 15 December, 2018 he died from a car accident after he was returning to the Bishop’s House after an annual function in a school in Gwalior, India.

MAR SIMON KAIPURAM (1954 – 2019)

Simon Kaipuram, was born on 9 Feb 1954 at Thanneermukkom, Kerala, India. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Balasore, Odisha from 2013 till 2019. He was died on 22 April 2019.